Which to use
“labo” and “labour” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,609
- “labo” frequency rank
- #20,183
- “labour” frequency rank
- 32792
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | labo | labour |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Laboratoire. | Façon qu’on donne à la terre en la remuant et la retournant en formant des sillons. |
Where the eye mixes labo and labour
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between labo and labour
A purely visual mix-up. labo (\la.bo\) and labour (\la.buʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “labo” sits inside “labour”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32792, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
labo is recorded at frequency rank #12,609, classified as anoun, pronounced \la.bo\. labour is at rank #20,183, tagged as anoun, pronounced \la.buʁ\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 32792, this pair ranks #294,928 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of labo vs labour
Shared letters: ablo. Private to "labo": -. Private to "labour": ru.
"labo" · 4 letters · shape CVCV · "labour" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "labo" and "labour" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "labo" or "labour"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "labo" and "labour" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "labo" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "labour" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #294,928 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "labo" and "labour" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "labour vs Lacour". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #294,928 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.